Odd Ends
by Apparuerit Diabolo et Loqui
Summary: Here I publish my unfinished stories and single chapters. At the moment it contains Harry Potter and Pokemon.
1. Introduction

**Welcome to Odd Ends.**

**Here I will post anything that pops into my head but doesn't constitute a publishable story. This will include oneshots, single chapters that I will probably never complete etc. Most will be Harry Potter but I will include other things occasionally. If you want me to continue something here give me a heads up and I may consider it will plenty of positive feedback.**

**They will be rated individually at the start of each chapter.**

**If you want to use something here as an idea/starter all I ask is that you send me a PM when you publish it with a link to it and that you make a note on the first chapter at the top of the page that your idea originally came from here.**

**Cheers, happy reading.**

**A/N - 1:**

**It seems people like asking me to continue something but don't bother to explain what. Please tell me exactly what you want continued in future.**

**I'm not going to start any more Harry Potter fics any time soon. Rather I'll post the first chapter or two here and when I finish another fic I'll get a vote for which one.**

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**List of stories plus a summary:**

**1 - Intro.**

**2 - Purification via Nuclear Fire - Harry Potter - **The idea of what Harry Potter would look like after a nuclear war has floated around in my head for ages so I just had to write it. May or may not be continued.

**3 - Disclosure - Harry Potter - **How would the muggle government announce the existence of witches and wizards if their hand was forced?

**4 - Final Measures - Harry Potter - **Was originally going to be a story (my second actually) but I abandoned it. Basically it was going to be the SAS being badass in the Battle of Hogwarts.

**5 - Ability Shipping - Pokemon - **I wanted to write an Ability Shipping fic that didn't involve Ash becoming a Frontier Brain so I though Anabel becoming a companion was the right way to do it. I had more time I'd continue this but alas I do not.

**6 - Rise of the Inferi - Harry Potter - **The world or Harry potter has been overtaken by zombies.


	2. Purification via Nuclear Fire - Part One

**My First Odd End.  
**

**I do have a second part to this but I had trouble finishing it so it may or may not be posted**

**Rated T for very disturbing themes and imagery.**

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**Odd Ends**

**Purification via Nuclear Fire**

**Part One**

The two young women – dressed in shabby and faded military camouflage and carrying well-worn British Army L22A1 SA80 Carbines they had liberated from a crashed Blackhawk helicopter several years back – walked over the blackened vitrified stone path and past the flash burnt pine trees that once led the way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Runic based Geiger Counters – having been hastily concocted many years ago by an eighteen year old Hermione Granger – clicked rapidly as they detected high-energy gamma radiation and high-speed subatomic that passed through the devices. As they moved further from the nuclear epicentre that was once Hogsmead the rate of clicking decreased from static to discernible clicks; never abating.

As the pair made it further up the path they reached the once proud swinging double gates of Hogwarts. The stone pillars on either side too vitrified, black and glassy while the winged boars that adorned their tops had slightly melted – the tips of their wings, their ears and the fang like tusks melted from the massive heat; the stonework having liquefied and run down like raindrops.

The once magically enhanced cast iron gates had already been smashed to bits by previous looters; the nuclear inferno having stripped them of their enchantments enabling them to be broken with a well-placed firm boot.

The pair simply walked through over the fragments of cast iron and into the Hogwarts grounds proper.

Here the pair found the first blackened skeleton since they had left the ruins of Hogsmead, lying in the ash and vitrified soil; just another corpse on the pile that was the unimaginable death toll that was the end of the world. So common it didn't stir anything in the two young women who walked the path.

As they continued to follow the path they passed the edge of the Black Lake, littered with bones. Clearly the radioactive soot and ash had poisoned the lake and killed it many inhabitants. The bones were probably that of Merperson and the odd Grindylow.

Across the lake Dumbledore's Tomb could be seen – the Hogsmead facing side blackened – while the tree surrounding it stood flash burnt and lifeless.

The pair moved on, giving neither of these things too much thought, instead they kept a watchful eye out for any dangers – most likely looters – that may harm them. In _this_ world it paid to be ever vigilant; carelessness got you raped, dead and robbed.

The pair eventually made it to the charred front doors of Hogwarts, having passed many skeletons on the way. The castle had withstood the blunt force of the American made but British borrowed BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile delivering a 150kT thermonuclear weapon that had detonated above Hogsmead less than two miles away; probably because of the castles inherent heavy construction and magical reinforcements. On the other hand all of the windows had blown in and the lead roofing had either blown away or melted into metallic puddles; meaning the interior of the once lively castle was now dark and damp, it's magically enhanced long life torches having burnt out many years ago.

Inside the entrance hall the duo found more skeletons – these ones still in clothes – having survived the initial explosion and radiation burst because of the castle's thick walls. They had probably died later due to infighting, famine or disease as varying groups tried to gain control of the castle Post-End. The fact the bodies had been left in the entrance hall suggested the former rather than the latter options.

The pair ultimately didn't know why they were here; they had already seen so much death and suffering. Everyone they ever knew or loved besides each other were gone; either in the nuclear apocalypse that started it, the Nuclear Retribution or the conventional witch-hunting war that followed Post-End.

_Started it._

_What had started it._

That had been clear – though not until they had captured a ragged Lucius Malfoy a year into the witch-hunts.

A young enterprising half-blood Deatheater recruit had been told he had to do something _amusing_ for Tom Riddle –_ Lord Voldemort_ – to earn his sacred mark. The recruit – seeking to one-up many in the Inner Circle – thought it would be funny to start a war between muggles that would see many die. Voldemort whole-heartedly agreed – finding the idea a good laugh.

Almost two weeks later, the Commanding Officer, the Executive Officer and the Weapons Officer of the _HMS Vigilant_ – a Royal Navy nuclear armed submarine – launched its full payload of nuclear armed ballistic missiles at the Russian Federation while under the _Imperius _curse. Russia responded in kind, launching missiles at Western Europe and North America and everything snowballed from there.

The young Deatheater recruit clearly hadn't expected such destruction. He hadn't expected Diagon Alley to disappear with the rest of London in a blinding white flash, or most of Magical Britain's population to vanish as population centres were vaporised. Because of its underground construction, the Ministry survived the initial attack; but not for long.

Somehow the muggles got wind of what actually happened; that a magical terrorist had started a genocide that had killed _billions_ – no one managed to figure out how though and not before the senior officers of the HMS Vigilant had be tried and shot for a multitude of crimes. What was left of the muggle world wanted blood.

The Ministry of Defence – or what was left of them – started by _acquiring_ a nuclear armed cruise missile from the well-stocked Americans as they had depleted their own stocks of nuclear weapons. The weapon was used on the not too distant Hogsmead before the Royal Air Force dropped a hundred or so tonnes of bunker busting bombs on the remains of the underground Ministry of Magic.

Following the British example, many other countries started bombing purely magical towns and cities that had survived the atomic fire. This was followed up by conventional warfare against magicals and soon it was a crime punishable by death in nearly every country to be a witch or wizard.

What was left of Magical Britain quickly rallied around Voldemort proclaiming that the fact that the muggles retaliated was proof that Voldemort was right and that muggles are animals that need to be put down; conveniently forgetting that they had started it and killed billions.

All while this was happening, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Athena Potter were sitting in a magically enlarged tent in a remote forest in the north of Scotland; unaware of the nuclear holocaust gripping the world until they saw the flash of nuclear fire light up the horizon one night.

The group quickly came to the conclusion the world was lost and that both sides were as bad as each other – hell-bent on wiping the other out – so they decided to try gather likeminded individuals and do… something – they never managed to figure out what they would do in a barren radioactive world.

Ultimately it was futile; any intelligent magical had gone to ground while the stupid following Voldemort were fighting. Not once did they meet another magical who wasn't hostile. The closest they got were the desecrated corpses of children publically executed for witchcraft.

Over the years though their numbers whittled down; Hermione was shot in the street by a sniper after being seen performing magic while trying to gather supplies, Neville was grabbed by muggle snatchers because his pureblood upbringing stood out too much in the rundown streets in a small town in North Wales and Luna who vanished into a crowd one day and was never seen again.

Luna was the final straw for the pair so they never set foot in muggle areas again. Now their feet had led them back to Hogwarts; a castle the pair had not seen in many years.

The pair took a right, into the remains of the Great Hall; its former glorious enchanted ceiling no longer functioning due to the issue of the roof being mostly missing. The four house tables lay smashed – pieces having been used to fuel a small campfire at some point while the house points counter lay empty as someone had looted the precious gems that filled it.

Finding nothing of interest they proceeded to search other parts of the castle as a pair – going alone was what got Neville snatched and Luna missing. Finding nothing of value on the ground floor they progressed to the next floor via the no longer functioning moving staircases and began to systematically search each room. Like every other place the rooms were bare of anything valuable.

They once again proceeded to the next floor to find a mass of cobwebs occupying what was once the corridor that housed the trapdoor to the Philosophers Stone. A small number of Acromantula had begun to form a nest – probably they had split from what was left of the now ravaged Forbidden Forest nest. Athena and Ginny both brought their rifles up to their shoulders and thumbed the safety catch to 'Semi', getting a sight picture through the dusty 1.5x optics.

Only a few years ago wizards would have scoffed at the use of muggle weapons. But Post-End most magicals learnt the hard way; guns were really good for killing things. Sure, a wand might be more versatile – Athena and Ginny both used theirs every day for a multitude of tasks – but when it came to raw killing power a gun did a better job; wands had a short effective range of only fifty metres or so while even the L22A1 Carbine had an effective range of four-hundred metres. Guns could also fire hundreds of rounds per minute compared to only a spell per second or so for wands.

However, any attempts at enchanting firearms had failed. Lightening the guns with magic just caused the recoil to become uncontrollable – apparently there is a correlation between felt recoil and firearm mass, lightening the ammo meant it became ineffective as lethality depended on bullet energy and momentum which was directly correlated with mass, conjured ammo was never precise enough to even chamber in a gun let alone function, and shrinking charms on guns and ammo meant they didn't resize properly and no longer fit together properly.

Hermione had however been working on a runic aiming system that used illusions to create video game style crosshairs but her death left it unfinished.

Regardless, with accuracy taught by life-or-death experience the pair opened up with single shots – only requiring two or three rounds per acromantula; the bullets passing unimpeded through one side and out the other of the dog sized spiders. Half a magazine later each and the acromantula were quickly becoming distant memories as they continued to work their way systematically through the aging school.

Floor after floor they searched until the pair passed a stone gargoyle on a pedestal in an alcove. Realising it was once Dumbledore's office Athena considered that this might be the place they were supposed to go to.

The gargoyle however no longer functioned, even then they wouldn't know what the password was set to by the school's last Headmaster; Snape. So the pair removed their wands from the holsters on their belts, stood back and each cast a blasting curse at the statue with calls of '_Bombarada!'_

The statue was quickly reduced to rubble but the stone door behind it stood firm against the initial round of curses. So the pair simply cast again, and again – until the door was reduced to powder and the pair could walk through to the – now static – escalator staircase.

The pair made their way up the stairs to the heavy oak door that marked the entrance to the Headmasters office and pushed it open.

Inside were the battered remains of what was once the office of countless headmasters. Being at the top of the tower meant that the roof had been cleanly taken off and directly exposed it contents to rain, snow and sunlight. On the opposite side of the room was four semi-circle holes that were once windows that overlooked the grounds and in the distance the remains of Hogsmead.

The blinding flash of light of nuclear weaponry had burnt a silhouette of the windows onto the opposite wall and door; leaving vitrified black shinny glass and charred door in its wake. Much of the contents of the office had clearly caught fire; destroying Dumbledore's old trinkets and the many portraits – any that had survived had subsequently succumbed to mould and mildew.

The pair broke up and individually began to examine the room for anything that had survived the fire and subsequent exposure to the harsh Scottish elements.

Athena took the once magnificent and now charred heavy desk, decided to shuffle through its many draws. She cast a simple spell with her wand designed to detect magic; the spell couldn't tell _what_ the magic did but it was a starting point for the more complicated diagnostic spells. Finding nothing substantial she felt it was safe to begin pulling open draws only to find them locked with a very old fashioned lock. By muggle standards the lock was horribly antiquated but magicals backed up such antiquated locks with many enchantments; Enchantments focused around the lock itself.

Not bothering to disable the enchantments, pick the lock or track down the key she retrieved a large knife from the sheath on her belt and forced it into the gap between the draw and the desk – the point where the brass lug would be that locked the draw in place. Athena then retrieved a slightly burnt piece of wood off the floor and gave the knife a good whack; forcing the knife through the brass lug and breaking it. Removing the knife and leaving it on the desk the draw now slid freely enabling Athena to begin shuffling through it.

Meanwhile, Ginny pursued the bookshelf covered walls; looking for any books that might be salvaged or possible hidden doors. Many of the books were so thoroughly ruined by damp that mushrooms had actually begun to sprout on them and the shelves were falling apart – only standing because the books now supported the shelves above them.

Finding nothing Ginny moved onto the ruined portraits.

"Hello there," said Ginny, breaking the pressing silence – the only words she had uttered since their arrival in Hogsmead besides a few spells.

Removing the ruined portrait and unceremoniously dumping it on the floor, she found a small recess in the wall where a number of leather-bound handwritten journals lay haphazardly – each marked with a starting and end date in loopy cursive; _'1899 to 1923_', '_1923 to 1945_', '_1945 to 1968_', '_1968 to 1981_', and finally '_1981 to_'.

Athena, having heard Ginny speak had followed; peaking over Ginny's shoulder and gaped at the diaries.

"Are those Dumbledore's?" she gasped, seeing that the dates matched – approximately – with Dumbledore's life.

* * *

**So there you have it.  
**

**I basically started this with the thought of what would happen if Hogwarts had been hit by a nuclear weapon and a sort've expanded on it while doing my usual of having Fem!Harry and Ron being seen as an arse.**

**This was also my attempt at describing scenery. A lot of people write dialogue but nothing else so here I attempted to describe the wider world**

**My current chosen name for Fem!Harry is Athena (duh)**


	3. Disclosure

**I wrote this ages ago and it was previously a separate story. It's not that great but I thought it should be reposted here as I've deleted the separate version.**

* * *

**Odd Ends**

**Disclosure**

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, crowned Monarch to sixteen Sovereign States on the 6th of February, 1952 was preparing for the most difficult announcement of her life. Next to her sat the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – Tony Blair; there to confirm her official statement with the intent of discouraging claims that Her Majesty had gone insane.

Queen Elizabeth the Second gulped and steeled herself as the counter blinked down to zero, indicating the start of broadcast across every channel in the British Realm. About to unveil to the world something that her family, the British Royal Family, had known about for centuries, a secret community that had gone into hiding in 1692 that would send shockwaves throughout the world.

"My loyal Subjects, recent events have forced my hand; starting with the destruction of both the Blockade Bridge and the Millennium Bridge, the inexplicable tornados in the West Country and finally the unexplainable murders happening up and down the country."

Her Majesty paused, getting ready to say the words that had not been uttered in over three hundred and forty six years.

"With regret I am forced to declare an official state of Civil War ongoing in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

The staff in the room running the equipment for the broadcast along with the staff who attended to both Her Majesty and the Prime Minister were shocked. Only the Queen Herself, the Prime Minister and an agent from the Security Service – better known as MI5 – in the room were not shocked at the news, they knew this was coming. It had been inevitable.

The Queen continued.

"Furthermore; I hereby declare the organization known as the Wizengamot, the organisation known as the Ministry of Magic and the organisation known as the Death Eaters illegal, and that any members of such organisations are to be arrested on grounds of High Treason for levying war against the Sovereign and for adhering to the Sovereign's enemies."

Around the country, up and down, people were staring gobsmacked at their TVs, hoping to dear God that the Queen had suddenly developed a sense of humour and that this was all a big joke.

o0o0o0o

**Six Hours Previously.**

Everyone's passes had been cancelled. Every serving soldier in Her Majesty's Armed Forces was recalled. Every active, reserve and inactive officer and soldier was being called in. Few knew why, but it was quickly obvious to the general soldiering population that it was big. Inactive soldiers hadn't been called in for a very long time.

Soldiers continued to be shocked as they were ordered to withdraw weapons and ammunition from the armoury – something that was rarely done save inside Northern Ireland – before being ordered to fortify their positions in a manner that would be preparing for all-out attack.

Soldiers dug trenches and fighting positions, some laid out concertina wire across neighbouring roads – blocking traffic, other began conducting heavily armed foot and motor patrols through the suburbs, as crucial information on their enemy slowly made its way through the chain of command; many senior officers hesitant to pass on the information because it seemed flat out ridiculous.

Meanwhile in police stations across the country, police officers too were being called in from their holidays, getting every hand on deck. Concerning orders came down from the top instructing station heads to issue out every firearm they had on hand – including firearms in the evidence lockers, firstly to accredited Firearm Officers, then too non-accredited officers on the beat after a very quick safety lecture. This was followed several hours later by security dossiers delivers from MI5 documenting the threat they were facing casing many to go pale.

o0o0o0o

Her Majesty finished her official proclamation, handing it over to the Prime Minister to explain.

"The _Magna Carta_ of 1215 officially laid out a set of right for a certain part of the community, granting them to self-governance provided they fallowed certain rules. In 1692 this community signed an international treaty entitled the _Statute of Secrecy_, causing this community to go into hiding, effectively fading from memory. This arrangement has worked for hundreds of years until recently when this community could not suppress criminal elements within themselves amounting in a successful coup on their government on the First of August. Subsequently with this coup, Her Majesty has declared it illegal and in violation of the _Magna Carta_, stating that in the event of Civil War that they would side with the Crown."

The Prime Minister had done well so far, never mentioning the word 'magic', causing many to assume they had misheard the Queen's earlier proclamation. They were unfortunately surely disappointed.

"What I say next breaks the _Statute of Secrecy_, effectively making it null and void, and will anger their international community."

The Prime Minister took a deep breath as the Queen did her best to sit impassively.

"The community in question are self-proclaimed Witches and Wizards, who, in response to medieval witch hunts went into hiding. I assure you they do in fact exist and do have – ahem – _magical_ powers."

If people had been shocked when the Queen mentioned 'Ministry of Magic' they were fainting now. Jokers, not seeing any punch line, and not believing that both the Queen and the Prime Minister had mastered such a pokerfaced grew rapidly concerned.

A boom microphone dropped into sight in front of the camera as its operator lost concentration at the shocking statement before they regained focus and pulled it up.

"As we speak, our armed forces and police are mobilising to protect the community from this threat. This is no joke."

The prime Minister paused, gulping before continuing with the most unusual statement he had ever made and probably will ever make.

"To the international magical community: you left us no choice. You did not intervene in this problem; something that could have been stopped while it was a simple terrorist incident, instead you did not and we were forced to take action thereby disclosing the magical community to the world."

"Information packages on this threat are being distributed to news organisations as we speak." He finished.

o0o0o0o

The officers still at the stations all huddled around the small TV in the break room, all having eagerly awaited information on why massive police and military deployments were underway. The revelation by the Queen and the Prime Minister was astounding, that is to say astounding to every person in the room except one man in his fifties leaning against the wall, cup of tea in hand.

"Oi, Phil," called one of the younger officers. "Did you get that?"

"I heard it perfectly well, lad" He replied.

The other officers, still with looks of shock on their faces turned to see their very calm fellow officer.

"You don't look like it, how can you know be shocked?"

"Maybe he thinks it's a joke?" asked another officer, trying to find a way out of this somewhat crazy situation.

"I'm not shocked because I already knew."

Everyone at this point had their attention focussed on Phil, the elderly officer, ignoring the commentary on the subject by BBC News.

"How?" said someone from the crowd.

"Easy," he responded. "My daughter's a witch; got a letter to Hogwarts about ten years back. She graduated but soon went into hiding when the war started. Knew this day was coming from what she told me was 'appening in their world, they couldn't keep it a secret for long."

Both the military and police quickly sought out members who had connections to the magical world, they needed the intelligence badly and it was hoped some would be able to provide some protection from what their intelligence packages had called 'Appearation' and to lead them into magical locations.

o0o0o0o

Meanwhile news of the disclosure was worldwide, everyone knew about it and a few rouge witches and wizards chose to demonstrate for the cameras; firmly engraining it in public consciousness.

Meanwhile at the International Confederation of Wizards they were discussing a cover-up. It would seem a few outdated wizards thought they could blockade the British Isles while they performed memory charms on the population, all sixty million of them – not realising that muggle communications were much faster than wizard's so the news was already worldwide.


	4. Final Measures

**Another story that will probably never be completed so I'm moving it here.**

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**Last Desperate Measures**

**Part One**

The Prime minister, like he regularly did, was waiting in his office long past normal office hours for a phone call from a foreign head of state. Unfortunately, time zones made the hour of this calls inconvenient.

He sighed, looked at his watch, noticing the call should be there in ten minutes, before thinking back to how terrible the last 18 months had been. Countless deaths, many unexplained, and many supposedly the work of dark wizards – he cringed at the very though that it was possible – and thus in the jurisdiction of the "Other Minister".

Being in the jurisdiction of the Other Minister made them very difficult to deal with, he couldn't stop them and he couldn't catch the killers, _and_ he was getting hammered in the press for his supposed voluntary inaction. At least there was some relief he though, smiling grimly, if he was booted out of office; his successor would find himself in exactly the same position with exactly the same problems, serves the bastard right for what he said in the polls.

Looking down at his watch he realised he'd only killed four minutes. While thinking _only six more minutes_ there was a sudden crack, almost like a gunshot, causing the Minister to jump then look around wildly for the source of the noise.

Standing on the rather extravagant and rather expensive carpet in his office was an unknown man dressed in robes, very much like the robes the Other Minister wore. In the low light, the Prime Minister had trouble making out the face. Panicking he tried to move his hand inconspicuously towards the hidden panic button on his antique desk. He stopped though when the robed man talked.

"Mister Prime Minister, we need an urgent talk" he said in a very low, calm and strong voice, before turning around, pulling a short thin stick out of his sleeve, and started muttering things in something vaguely Latin while moving his wand around in a deliberate motion towards the office door and then the window opposite the fireplace on the Prime Ministers left.

The Prime Minister, having heard his voice, now knew who the robed man was; Kingsley Shacklebolt, the man that the Other Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, had installed in his office 18 months prior.

"Shacklebolt" He stammered at the sudden intrusion, "what are you doing? How did you get in here?"

"I apologise Minister, but this is an emergency, Scrimgeour is.."

The Prime Minister cut him off: "What do you mean an emergency? Why isn't Scrimgeour here, telling me this or … or at the very least, Fudge!"

The Prime Minister thought wildly. He knew Shacklebolt was one of _them_, Scrimgeour had told him that in his first meeting, but Kingsley never mentioned it, and the Prime Minister wasn't going to risk asking him in case everything here was all in his head. _Just imagine what the papers would say is they thought I believed in magic, I can read the headline now!_

"_That_, Prime Minister is what I was getting at. We don't have much time. Scrimgeour is dead"

The Prime Minister took a few seconds to process this.

"Dead? How? What happened to him? Why isn't Fudge telling me this?"

Kingsley sat down in the chair opposite the desk and spoke:

"Less than an hour ago there was a coup. Virtually silent, but very bloody and a lot of people are dead or now under Voldemort's control. I myself just managed to get away. I can guarantee you won't be receiving any visits for the Minister of Magic anymore, and the bloodshed is going to get worse, much worse. As we speak, anyone affiliated with Harry Potter or any other anti-Deatheater organisations is having their doors kicked down, and are being detained, searched, arrested or worse."

The Minister didn't speak for twenty seconds, deep in thought, before asking:

"What can I do?"

"There isn't much that can be done, we essentially lost, not saying we have, but we no longer have any sort of cohesive structure or organisation to fight from… I assume you were briefed on Voldemort's goals and philosophy?..."

"Hmm... Not really, Fudge gave me the dumbed down, sugar-coated and very condescending version of it. Said something about blood purity, they sounded a bit like Nazis. In many ways I'm rather shocked to hear you guys lost; Fudge kept assuring me the problem was being dealt with and it would all be over soon"

"Yes, well, Fudge is – or maybe was, now, I'm not sure he's alive – a spineless arse, and in many ways he personally agreed with Voldemort's views, though not his methods. He looked down on Witches and Wizards from non-magical families and on muggles, which is to say, _non-magical people_, with distaste. Though he wouldn't want to wipe them out like Voldemort, he just disliked them didn't think they were very good at anything really.

As for Nazis, that would be a rather accurate comparison. Voldemort believes that pure-bloods, that is magical people whose ancestors were also purebloods, are superior beings. He believes that half-bloods, people with part magical he are lesser beings, but still beings that can be tolerated – though we suspect his long term plans may include their eradication, and he believes that muggle-borns, people who are magical with no magical ancestor are subhuman, happily seeing their eradication.

As for muggles, well, they don't even exist on his sliding scale of humanity, let alone compassion."

The Minister once again thought in silence, processing everything Kingsley had told him. The info was much more than what Fudge had said. Fudge had sugar-coated everything. Made it look like Voldemort was going to be a pushover. He was clearly wrong, a perfect example of a slimy worm for a politician, make sense as worse don't have bones.

"They're basically Nazis then. Blood supremacy and all that nonsense." He paused, "Are you capable of winning this war?"

"There are no guarantees" he replied simply.

"That's not good enough. You need to guarantee the safety of the public. If you can't do it then I'll have to take measures into my own hands, before it spirals out of control and I'm forced to tell the public what's happening."

Kingsley at that moment considered obviating the Prime Minister right there and then. He was _supposed_ to protect the Statute of Secrecy, instead however he seeked to bring this discussion under control, it was reaching the point where the Prime Minister was going to lose control at the, now former, Ministries ineptness.

"Prime Minister, I'm not sure there is anything you could do. You're talking about wizards well versed in hiding themselves from the non-magical population. There are spells that make magical locations invisible to you, there are spells that cause you to shy away from such places for no particular reason, there are so many I would have to spend days explaining all of them.

As for a guarantee; I can't promise anything. I _believe _that in the long run that Voldemort will be defeated, but it will take time. The magical population supports the defeat of Voldemort, but this coup has been silent. Many people won't notice anything has happened until the new government starts changing laws, starts rounding people up and all that other nasty business. What they'll need is a trigger. Eventually something will break and the magical populace with go into open warfare. Hopefully, we will win."

The Prime Minister made a decision, he couldn't trust the wizards to win their war and protect the population.

"Kingsley, I need you to help me. I'm going to call some people from the DoD over. I want you to discuss the possibility of _normal_ soldiers joining this fight with them. I know you're going to protest, thinking we can't or aren't able, but I will guarantee our soldiers could make an impact when this trigger you speak of happens. You teach them whats-his-name's tactics and they'll get the best of the best ready the fight them."

Kingsley sighed. This wasn't what he wanted to do, and he wasn't convinced they would be able to help. He just came to warn the Prime Minister what happened so he'd be informed.

At that point, the phone rang. Also sighing, the Prime Minister, glancing at his watch, saw that the foreign president was late with his call; he'd probably been fiddling with his secretary _again, _forgetting he had this conversation planned for twenty minutes ago. Putting on a fake tone of pleasure he picked the phone up and spoke to the President.

"Mister President … Yes, all is well, how are you … I'm sorry, an important meeting came up, seems my secretary forgot to pass the message on … We'll reschedule for tomorrow … Yes, sorry about that" He finished the conversation with "bye" and hung up the phone.

Kingsley spoke first, hoping to maybe get away from what the Prime Minister had planned.

"You know the President also has a magical counterpart…"

"I don't even want to think about it. The conversation would be very strange for a start and I'm not sure what it would achieve. Anyway, back to what I was saying" At this, Kingsley sighed again "I want you to speak to the men from the DoD. I know, you'll have issues with them keeping secrets, but I can guarantee they'll keep yours. Half the stuff they get upto I don't even hear about, and I'm the bloody Prime Minister"

Sighing for the millionth time that night, Kingsley agreed.

"One thing though, I need to go do some things before they get here…"

"Whitehall is just down the street, Kingsley; they'll be here in five minutes when I make the call."

"I know, but I need to check with some of my people first. I need to get some intelligence and see who is safe and what we have left. I can be back here in three hours."

The prime minister glanced at his watch and frowned when he realised that mean another very late night.

"How do I know you'll come back? You might just run off!" the Minister exclaimed.

"If I wanted to, Minister, I could leave now and no one here could stop me. Look, I'll demonstrate."

Kingsley stood up, moved to one corner of the room and disappeared with a crack, before appearing on the other side of the room.

The Prime Minister had though he'd seen it all when Fudge came into his office through the _fireplace_ of all things and turned his teacup into some sort of small and furry rodent. Now he had seen a man teleport across a room and he was sure he could do it over much greater distances. _At least I know how he got in here now._

"Very well, Kingsley, in three hours we'll have our chat" he sighed, he had to trust this man it seemed, at least he'd been trustworthy for the last 18 months as his assistant.

Kingsley got up, pulled out his wand, and did some more funny movements while muttering strange Latin words, removing the spell he had cast earlier, before disappearing with a twist and a crack.

o0o0o0o

Three hours later, Kingsley apperated into the Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street for the second time that night. In spite of the Prime Ministers best efforts he still flinched at the sound. The same couldn't be said for the two gentlemen seated in front of the Prime Minister's desk, clutching tumblers filled with fine Scotch whisky.

The older gentleman, probably in his late fifties, decked out in a fine officers uniform, jumped back and raised his tumbler with a threatening stance, preparing to throw it at Kingsley. The younger gentleman, wearing his field uniform in barracks dress, probably in his late thirties or early forties didn't bother with threatening and threw the tumbler hard at Kingsley as soon as he stood up. Kingsley easily blocked the tumbler with a weak shield before he'd even gotten his wand out, the tumbler shattering into dust.

The Prime Minister was particularly surprised at this; he felt he could finally say nothing could surprise him anymore when he saw a demonstration of teleportation a few hours previously, but he quickly realised he need to get this under control before the two officerss, particularly the younger one, started resorting to fists to deal with this strangely dress man, now with ripped and burnt robes, who appeared out of nowhere.

"Gentlemen; sit down."

The officers quickly glanced at the Prime Minister thinking what the Hell was going on, before relaxing somewhat when the prime minister, with false absentmindedness, took another sip of Scotch, before continuing

"I apologise that I haven't said anything about this meeting, but I couldn't. Anything said would seem ridiculous and preposterous without some proof." The Prime Mister took his time to see the two officers still standing, having not returned to their seats, while noticing they were a seat short for the new arrival. "As I said, sit down, Gentlemen. I'll ask someone to bring you another chair, Kingsley"

"No need Prime Minister, as you said, you needed a demonstration."

Kingsley pulled his wand out of his sleeve, once again did some things the Prime Minister assumed were required in magic and silently conjured a very comfortable chair – probably more comfortable than the chair the Prime Minister sat in – out of thin air, which landed at the narrow end of the table, facing across the table towards the fireplace.

The two officers gasped at this new sight and the Prime Minister, having seen such things a few times before, sat impassively before speaking.

"As I said, ridiculous and preposterous, if I had said magic was real before Kingsley arrived I would be laughed at"

"Magic?" the officers replied in unison, before the younger colonel continued alone "You can't be serious."

"I'm quite serious, Colonel, and we have a very serious matter to discuss" Kingsley said as he sunk into his chair. "Anyway, Prime Minister. Introductions?"

"Yes, yes. This is Brigadier Sir James Peterson, commander of UK Special Forces" the Prime Minister said, gesturing to the older man "and that is Colonel Frank Ronson, UKSF liaison to the Secret Intelligence Service" gesturing to the other, younger officer.

"Gentlemen, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt" pausing for a second "a… uhh… What were you again?"

"An Auror, assuming you didn't mean the obvious, though as of a few hours ago, I am not." Realising the two officers probably still hadn't caught on he added "I am also a wizard."

Peterson and Ronson sat quietly waiting for the punch line. It was pretty unusual, neither of them had much time for jokes that wasted their precious time at home and none of them expected the Prime Minister to attempt one. As if the Prime Minister was reading their minds he spoke in a serious and non-joking manner

"There is no punch line, Gentlemen, we have something very important to discuss."

o0o0o0o

It took Kingsley a good fifteen minutes to convince the two officers that magic was real and that they weren't have two very realistic hallucinations. He demonstrated many things, from transfiguring the Prime Ministers prized antique desk into a very large pig – something that nearly caused all of his personal effects to fall off the table if Kingsley, with another flick of his wand, hadn't caused them to hover – with which he turned the pig back into an antique desk, to changing the two officers and the Prime Minister's suits and uniforms bright pink.

From there he got into a deep discussion about the current state of the wizarding world, the various factions, who's on whose side and of course, Harry Potter.

"Harry Potter? Fudge mentioned the name a few times, said he was the Boy-Who-Survived or something. Said he was a child who had managed to survive Volde-"

Kingsley cut the Prime Minister off.

"Prime Minister, I ask that you don't say that name anymore. Somehow, we have no idea how; he's started being able to track dissenters with it. I myself was very luck to not have been killed only a few hours ago, and, after meeting with my fellow Order members-" Kingsley paused as everyone nodded their understanding at what the Order was, "-we're pretty sure that's how he found many of us. Three confirmed dead so far, and half a dozen barely escaped with their lives."

"How is that possible?" Colonel Ronsen responded.

"As I said, Colonel, we have no idea. It's perfect for him really; the only people who have ever dared to say his name were people who actively opposed him, an almost fool proof way to track and deal with dissidents." Kingsley finished with a sigh.

The older officer responded first.

"We could easily exploit this. Set up and ambush then simply call out his name! We could gather intelligence very rapidly and remove the enemy very quickly. I assume, Colonel, that SIS would be happy to help with interrogations?"

The Colonel responded with a slight grin, "Yes, sir."

"Wait one moment" Kingsley said firmly. "It's nowhere near that simple. As soon as they know they're outmatched they'd simple disapperate away and then bring back reinforcements, maybe even Vold-, You-Know-Who himself."

"Is there a way to stop people from disappearing-"

Kingsley cut the Prime Minister off.

"Dis_apperating"_

The Prime Minister continued.

"Disapperating then, is there a way to stop it?"

"Yes there is, Prime Minister" Kingsley rubbed the bridge of his nose before speaking again. "You would need a few witches or wizards there to set up anti-disapperation wards the moment they apperated in. Which gets to the next problem; how do you propose to capture several very violent and dangerous Death Eaters? You can't just run up to them and jump them. Most death eaters could cast a spell every second; many of the more talented ones could cast two or more per second. You haven't got the firepower to deal with that, let alone non-lethal fire power needed for prisoner capture."

The two officers grinned. Both had gotten the impression during Kingsley's initial descriptions that the wizarding community knew very little about modern non-magical weapons and warfare. Kingsley just proved it.

"Kingsley, what do you know about guns?" the Brigadier said.

"Not much. We were given a demonstration during Auror training so we knew about them if we ever encountered them, but I've never actually had to use the training; big, heavy, clunky things that fling bits of metal or whatever you stuff in one end at very high speed in the general direction of your target. It takes a long time to 'reload' and produces enormous clouds of white, acrid smoke in the process?"

Now the Prime Minister joining in on the grinning, even he, a man who had never touched a gun in his life, knew Kingsley's knowledge on weapons and warfare was very outdated, probably by hundreds of years. If the 'Death Eaters' also shared Kingsley's views and understanding on non-magical weaponry then this would be a cake-walk.

"Kingsley" the Colonel responded, "You understanding of weapons seems a _little_ - and by that I mean a good few hundred years - outdated. I'm going to take a leap of faith and assume you – and the rest of the magical community - also have no clue about modern tactics and warfare."

For the first time ever, the Prime Minister saw a slight bit of confusion on Kingsley's face.

"What do you mean outdated? What's outdated about what I said?"

The young Colonel was first to respond.

"Well, let's see, for starters; Guns haven't been muzzleloaders in about 150 years, we stopped using blackpowder with its clouds of acrid white smoke in the late 1800s, nearly every gun made in the last 100 years has been capable of repeated firing before reloading, with modern guns being able to shoot dozens and dozens, or more, bullets before reloading, and modern machine guns can fire nearly a thousand rounds per minute, with some in the few thousand rounds per minutes range. As for prisoner capture; we have various weapons at our disposal that are nonlethal and very effective; flash grenades that blind and disorientate the enemy, tasers than stun and incapacitate the enemy from a distance and rubber buckshot that can be used in normal shotguns but don't kill the enemy, only causing great pain to them. Capture won't be an issue, assuming your people can stop them 'disapperating' away"

Kingsley hid his shock. He had no idea the muggles had this capability, and in some ways he thought this reflected poorly on the wizarding community, _how could we have been so blind? How could we have not realised what the muggles had achieved without magic?_ In some ways he now thought Arthur had the right idea, trying to find out what muggles could do without magic. _They really were ingenious in some ways._

"Alright, I'll help, but only when you've proven your capabilities to me." Kingsley replied, getting out of his deep thought.

"Excellent." The Prime Minister replied, refilling his tumbler. "When can you start? The Brigadier can start straight away."

"I'll need a bit of time" Kingsley responded, back in deep thought, "I'll need some time to organise a new safe house. I have little doubt the Death Eaters are ransacking, if not burning down, my house as we speak."

"We can organise you one, Kingsley" the spook offered.

"No, don't worry; I can do it myself and it will only take me a day or two." He replied before turning to the older officer. "I'll want to bring some of my people along to see your demonstration. Not only that, but I'll need them to demonstrate abilities, tactics and equipment, along with the magical animals the Death Eaters will probably use."

"What sort of magical animals are we talking about?" the Prime Minister asked hastily. "Fudge once told me he was bringing dragons into the country! I hope you don't mean they'll start riding them!"

Kingsley chuckled.

"Not likely Minister, dragons are practically impossible to tame." He said as he stopped chuckling and realised the Prime Minister was actually worried, before putting his deep and reassuring voice back on. "Dragons are uncontrollable; the only thing that would happen if they tried is that they lose a lot of people. I can pretty much guarantee they'll use giants. They did last time and this time we failed in our negotiations to get them on our side; seems they didn't appreciate being wiped out to near extinction by the government. Another thing I can guarantee is werewolves. The largest group of them is lead Fenrir Greyback, a bastard who wishes to infect children and we're pretty sure is a paedophile. Now, not all werewolf's are like that, but many are, a good friend of mine, a fellow Order member, is one – someone I'll bring along as he'll be able to give you a better idea about their numbers and capabilities."

"Actual honest-to-God werewolves?" the Spook exclaimed. "Full moon, silver bullets, holy water, and all?"

"Silver bullets and holy water?" Kingsley asked, slightly confused.

The Prime Minister explained. "In werewolf myth and legend, they can only be killed with silver bullets and holy water."

Kingsley laughed. "How did you ever get such a crazy notion? They'll be killed like most other creatures, old age and physical trauma, though when transformed they are significantly more resilient than a normal human."

"You mean to say being able to transform under a full moon isn't crazy?" replied the old Brigadier in a very flat tone.

"No, that's exactly what happens. People infected with Lycanthropy transform into werewolves when exposed to the light reflected off the moon. Best not ask me how, as I don't know" Kingsley finished.

The Prime Minister was next to speak:

"Is there anything else to discuss?" he said, looking at each of the officers then the auror in turn.

"No, Minister" each of them replied, before the Brigadier continued alone.

"Very well. So, we're in agreement; you'll get your people together, we'll meet at Hereford – I'll get you the exact locations later, drive to RAF Hereford, we'll demonstrate some of our weapons and capabilities, and from there we'll set up a meeting with some other officers from the Regiment, some more spooks and whoever else needs to be there. From that we should be able to work out what we need to do."

The brigadier looked towards Kingsley in case he had anything to add.

"So, three day from now?" Kingsley glanced at the clock on the wall, realising it was now in the early hours of the morning. "Including today I think."

With nothing else to say, Kingsley got up then disapperated with a crack.

o0o0o0o

"Prime Minister, that was easily the strangest thing I've ever seen. Are we sure it was real?" the Colonel asked.

"What are the chances we're all having the same delusion? With one of us experiencing it for a good seven years? I – unfortunately - think it's very real, and a very real threat. If only half of what they said is true we'll need their help, and they'll need ours. While we can probably deal with anything they throw at us, we would lose a lot because we don't know _what_ they are throwing."

"Too true." The Brigadier responded.

"On a lighter note" the Colonel said with a small smile, "At least this will be easy on the conscience."

The older Brigadier smiled too at those words, but the Prime Minister seemed slightly confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. One of their leaders is paedophile who is infected with something pretty much akin to HIV, the rest are practically aristocratic Nazis, hell-bent on genocide and world domination. Shit, I'd pay to pull the trigger." He finished with a smirk

The three of them chucked at that as they prepared to finally leave for the night.


	5. Ability Shipping

**First time I've ever published something other than Harry Potter.**

**I'm going to try start a posting schedule. I'll update a story once a week - which won't have any real pattern to it - and try not to have more than a month between update for any of my major fics. I'm stuck right now with Unspeakable Employment - it seems writing school-like lessons is really hard - so it will be done when it's done. Every time I open the document up I add a few hundred words to it so we'll see what happens.**

**On to the story.**

* * *

**Ability Shipping**

**Chapter One:**

**A Lack of Experience**

Anabel – Frontier Brain and Saloon Maiden – had been sitting on this for weeks, trying to come up with a good argument for her plan.

She knew she was an excellent trainer, having after leaving the Sinnoh Region blitzed her way through the Kanto Gyms before being noticed by Scott and being given a place as the second to last Kanto Frontier Brain – having defeated every other brain bar Brandon.

The job was good and she was paid well but she didn't battle enough strong trainers – having only seen a dozen trainers through her doors in the eighteen months she had been a Frontier Brain. The very slow pace meant she wasn't learning very much when it came to becoming a better Pokemon trainer.

Now, after sitting on an idea for several weeks and partially guided by her not so insignificant crush on the Battle Frontier's first winner she had a possible solution.

"Oh – hey Anabel," said Scott as the feed on the videophone lit up. "I take it you heard Ash beat Brandon?"

Not expecting a discussion about Ash she hesitated slightly before speaking.

"Uh – yea, I did," she said. "Did you offer him a place as the Eight Frontier Brain? I recall you saying you wanted eight Brains."

"I did but he told me he's not finished travelling. Maybe I'll approach him again in a few years; haven't seen someone with his passion for battling in a long time – not since you I believe."

Anabel blushed and gave a small smile at both the compliment and the fact Ash was still travelling before moving on and getting to the crux of her call to Scott.

"Thanks," she said. "But this isn't why I called you. I've been thinking… I'm not so sure how to phrase it but I want to get out and travel again."

Scott frowned slightly at that.

"You're not thinking of leaving the Battle Frontier, are you?" he replied slightly concerned. "I know your contract comes up for renewal in six months but I was hoping to keep you on for a long time."

"Not at all," she replied firmly. "I have no intention of leaving – I just need more experience. The trainers you send me are good but I just don't get enough of them. I was thinking if I go back to travelling and maybe compete in a conference I might get the experience needed to become much better – maybe ever challenge Brandon for his place as final Brain."

"Hmm," mused Scott. "Do you have any ideas on how to work such an idea? I can't halt the Battle Frontier for six months just so you can train and travel."

"Well, I was thinking the slow rate of trainers might be a blessing in disguise," suggested Anabel. "You give me four or so day's heads up and I could probably rush back here for the battle before going back to where I was and continuing my journey."

"That might work," replied Scott. "Are you going to stick to Kanto or Johto? If you stick to Kanto or Johto it will be pretty easy to work out."

"I'm not sure at this stage, it probably won't be though," replied Anabel. "I might be going a bit further afield than that."

"Hmm – maybe we could arrange for a helicopter to pick you up and fly to the nearest airport – I would have to take it from your salary though…"

"Fine, whatever – I can live with that," she muttered.

"I was kidding about taking it out of your salary," replied Scott good naturedly. "But now you mention it I can if you want me too."

"No – you don't need to do that," she replied quickly before Scott began to think it was a good idea. "Battle Frontier paying for it will be fine."

"Alrightly then," replied Scott with a small chuckle. "I think you need a satellite phone though – I can't be waiting a week for you to reach the nearest Pokémon Centre to get my message every time I have a new challenger."

"Yea, I can do that," she replied. "Anything else to add? Any idea if I can leave soon? Maybe a new challenger only a week away or something?"

"Nothing too soon," replied Scott. "Spenser doesn't think his current challenger will make it through anytime soon – if ever. This is a good idea Anabel; Battle Frontier is all about being the best challenge for trainers around – becoming a better Brain certainly leads to that."

Anabel gave him a smile.

"Thanks Scott."

o0o0o0o

'_Okay, part two,' _thought Anabel as she dialled another number.

"Hello? Professor Samuel Oak speaking," said the Professor as he picked up.

"Hello Professor," she replied. "I'm Anabel from the Kanto Battle Frontier. I was wondering if you had a way for me to get in touch with Ash Ketchum."

"Ash? Yes, I can do that – he lives just down the road," answered the professor. "You may want to make it quick though, he's leaving very soon – this morning I believe – he's going on another journey. I can give you the Ketchum residence number."

"Thank you, Professor," said Anabel as she jotted down the number.

Anabel quickly redialled hoping Ash hadn't left yet which a brown haired woman who looked to be about thirty picked up.

"Delia Ketchum speaking," she said.

"Hi, is Ash still around?" asked Anabel quickly.

"He's just about to go – who should I say is calling?" asked Ash's mother.

"It's Anabel."

Dalia Ketchum made her way to Ash's room and knocked on the door.

"Dear," called Delia Ketchum. "There's someone on the phone for you, Anabel I believe – seems a little bit urgent."

"Anabel?" said Ash quietly as finished packing his belongings in his backpack. '_I wonder what she wants. Maybe a congratulations for defeating Brandon?'_

Ash made his way to the phone wish Pikachu in tow to find a smiling Anabel on the other end of the videophone.

"Hey Anabel, how are you?" he asked as he returned her smile.

"I'm good," she replied. "I heard you defeated Brandon – congratulations."

"Yeah, thanks," he replied as Pikachu made himself known.

"Hey Pikachu, how are you?" asked Anabel.

"Pika-pi!" he replied happily.

Anabel's abilities couldn't work over such a distance or through the videophone so she had to gauge her response based on appearance and tone rather than her ability

"That's good; so – I was wondering," started Anabel as she refocused on ash. "Are you interesting in having some company on your new journey?"

"You offering?" he asked as she nodded. "Sure, I would love to have some company. I'm always happy to travel with friends – but what about Battle Frontier? Are you leaving?"

"Scott asked me the same question," she replied, answering Ash's next question as to whether she had spoken to Scott about it. "I'm not leaving – as I told Scott; I just don't get to battle enough strong trainers. I've only see a dozen trainers at my battle facility in the eighteen months I've been a brain. So he'll call me when I have a challenger and I'll fly back to Kanto for a few days before meeting up again."

"So you want to become a better Pokémon trainer?" asked Ash as he caught on.

"Yeah," she replied. "I want to battle more strong trainers – I'm thinking I might even challenge Brandon for the position of final Brain."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea," responded Ash. "You interested in joining me in getting gym badges and entering the Lily of the Valley Conference?"

"Lily of the Valley Conference? You're going to Sinnoh?" asked Anabel slightly uneasily.

"Yeah, I've never been there," he responded before noticing Anabel's unease. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Oh no, nothing," she replied too quickly. "So I'm going to Sinnoh with you then?"

"Yea, sure," replied Ash. "As I said earlier; I'm always happy to have some company."

"Okay – how are we getting there then?"

"I _was_ going to walk to Vermillion City and catch the boat…" he suggested as he trailed off.

"How about I walk to Pallet town and then we go to Vermillion City together?" she suggested nervously. "I could be there in two – uh – three days once I got everything here squared away."

"Maybe…" mused Ash as he thought it over.

"What's this, Ash?" called out Delia after overhearing his conversation. "You're going to be here for a few more days? That's great!"

Ash sighed slightly after being forced into delaying his journey by his mother.

"Sounds like it could work," agreed. "See you in three days then?"

o0o0o0o

As Ash hung up the phone, Anabel smiled. She was going back on the road, and with Ash of all people. Even the fact they were going to Sinnoh – Anabel's home region – didn't dampen her spirits.

Anabel thought about Sinnoh and her older brother for a moment before getting a move on and organising everything for her trip – a rather significant challenge that required her to shut many of her Battle Tower's systems down and prepare her small cottage for long term vacancy.

She then moved on to her Pokémon. She couldn't simply leave them here as they needed to be in tip-top shape for her battles, her preferred Frontier Symbol-battle Pokémon being Alakazam, Metagross and Espeon. Each would require regular exercise and training so Anabel settle for taking all of her Pokémon to Pallet town. Hopefully Professor Oak would allow her to store her Pokémon there enabling her to access them easily from Sinnoh.

Anabel, now satisfied her house and Battle Tower wouldn't fall down while she was away began to pack; trying to remember what she would need from her previous journey.

o0o0o0o

It hadn't been hard for an experience trainer like Anabel to walk to Pallet Town untroubled – her ability just made things even easier; except for those Beedrill on Route 22 – It would seem they weren't pacified by her kind words and apologies so she was forced to fight.

Still, the walk from Tohjo Falls to Pallet town was mostly uneventful and in good time she was on the outskirts of Pallet town.

"I can't believe I forgot to ask what Ash's address is," she muttered to Espeon. "I could wander around looking for him but I'll have more success just asking Professor Oak."

Espeon gave Anabel a laugh at her embarrassment at such a small mistake before following her to Professor Oak's prominent laboratory on the hill.

"Oh, hello!" said the greying haired man in a lab coat as he opened the door. "Anabel, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Professor, I'm Anabel," she replied. "I seem to be making a habit of this but can you direct me to Ash's house?"

"No worries my dear," he replied before pointing towards a white house a block down. "Ash lives on the seventh house on the right."

"Ah – yes, I see it," she replied. "Thanks professor!"

Leaving to Ash's place at a jog she and Espeon made quick time to the Ketchum residence where they found Mrs Ketchum and a Mime out front digging up a vegetable patch.

"Hello," said Mrs Ketchum as she noticed Anabel and Espeon approach the house. "You must be Anabel. Ash is in the forest behind the house training."

Anabel gave her thanks and went looking for Ash; finding him out back as his mother had said but he wasn't training. Instead he was backed up against a tree at the edge of a clearing with his cap over his face sleeping while Pikachu was in his lap dozing as well.

"Ash…" said Anabel softly.

Ash didn't stir so Anabel assumed Ash was actually sleeping.

With a slight huff at the poor reunion Anabel did the polite thing and took a seat against a tree nearby.

* * *

**I was going to keep writing this to the point where they leave for Sinnoh but I'm already a bit full and am working on another Pokemon fic right now.**

**Either way part of the story was going to involve Anabel - who's Lucian's little sister - leaving Sinnoh so she would stop being compared to her 'great Elite Four member brother'. If you want to continue this please feel free.**


	6. Rise of the Inferi

**Decided to move this to Odd Ends.**

**So this is what happens when the world of Harry Potter is taken over by zombies.**

* * *

**Rise of the Inferi**

**Chapter One: **

**What Statute of Secrecy?**

Harry was standing in the dungeon of 12 Grimmauld Place staring at a disfigured corpse as it struggled against its manacles, surrounded by the most mismatched bunch of wizards, witches and muggles. Starting with Dudley – who for some reason had a shotgun that belonged to his father that his father had bought after those 'damn freaks' bent the one he possessed in his encounter with Hagrid, next to him was Piers Polkiss – Dudley's best mate who was hefting a machete, next was Remus Lupin – Harry's third year defence teach and so far the only one to survive the position with his life or mind, next was Tonks – apparently Sirius's cousin who refused to let anyone utter her first name, Sirius himself who technically was a criminal on the run but that didn't matter anymore with the collapse of the Ministry, then was Hermione – Harry's surviving best friend who was being comforted and comforting Ginny Weasley, the Twins – Fred and George Weasley – where next looking sullen. Mr and Ms Dan and Emma Granger – Hermione's parents – were next, looking disgustedly at the animated corpse, Kreature – the Black Family Elf, was apparently floating around the house, muttering obscenities. Harry thought back to the unusual circumstances that led to his arrival at this rather dark looking house.

o0o0o0o

Harry was strolling down a narrow lane behind some houses a few blocks over from Privet Drive after a few hours nap under a tree in a hidden away corner of a local park, thinking about the strange things he'd heard on the TV. None of them looked like Death Eater attacks and they seemed to be happening worldwide – surely Voldemort hadn't spread that far in such a short time? Harry didn't know what it was but settled on it not being related to Voldemort and instead being some freak occurrence.

As he neared the end of the lane he ran into three people – one was his cousin Dudley, another was Piers Polkiss who for some reason was carrying a bloodied machete, inbetween them was a rather brutalised figure that Harry couldn't recognise through all the blood.

"Shit!" said the bulking figure of Dudley who surprisingly way jumped back nimbly as Harry drew his wand.

"What the Hell happened to you?" said Harry cautiously as he narrowed his eyes, pointing his wand in Piers and Dudley's direction.

"Keep that thing out of my face, Harry," he replied. "We've got bigger problems; keep an eye out for them, we've got to get to the house."

"Yea," said Piers for the first time, waving his bloodied machete around. "Fucking zombies everywhere, they really fucked Malcolm up."

"Zombies?" asked Harry as he raised a solitary eyebrow.

"Come on Harry!" exclaimed Dudley. "You have all that weird shit happen to you and – and magic! You're not going to argue with me that it's impossible are you? We need to get to the house and barricade ourselves in!"

"You realise how much trouble I'll get in if you keep spouting that off?" said Harry urgently. "Something called the Statute of Secrecy? Ring a bell, Dudley?"

"Like that's going to matter, Harry. The government is gone, people are dying, Hell – Malcolm probably won't make it and that's before you think about zombie rules."

"Zombie rules?"

"Like what sort of zombies were dealing with," answer Piers. "Pretty sure these are the 'you get bitten and you become one' zombies but we're not sure, if Malcolm turns we'll know."

"Ugh, fine," said Harry and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm pinning any breaches of the Statute on you, you know that, Dudley?"

"Don't think there will be anyone around to pin it on me, Harry."

"Whatever, let's get home, I can't believe I'm going along with this."

o0o0o0o

To Harry's surprise it only took one block to find the proof he needed, finding Mongolia Crescent filled with pale, rotten and disfigured 'zombies' who were wandering around aimlessly.

"Uh huh," said Harry and he drew to a halt.

"Told you," replied Dudley simply.

"We gotta go around them quietly; Malcolm ended up like this because he thought he could take on a few with his machete. Your street is just at the end of this one."

"Is he even still alive?" asked Harry.

"I dunno, he neck was so messed up I couldn't find a pulse."

"You know there's a pulse on your wrist, right Dud?" said Harry with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh yea," he responded before fumbling with Malcolm's wrist. "Not sure I'm doing it right, I can't feel anything."

"Ugh, let's work it out when he get to the house. We need to keep moving and stay quiet."

The group made their way down the street; cutting across perfectly manicured lawns which were green despite the heat and water restrictions and occasionally ducking behind cars and hedgerows to avoid the shuffling undead. As they neared the end of the street and Privet drive the street and houselights suddenly cut out.

"Well, maybe it is a bit bigger than we thought," muttered Harry.

"Big?" asked Piers with no more than a whisper. "Of course it's big! There's been strange reports all week; strange sightings, strange deaths."

"Uh, guys," said Dudley. "More zombies just poured into the street; I think the lights were attracting them."

Their observation of the street was interrupted by a throaty gurgling noise behind them. Turning they saw a pale woman, missing an arm at the shoulder and covered in cuts climb out of the large dining room window of the house behind them.

"Shit," mutter piers as he dropped the mass that was Malcolm unceremoniously to the ground as the 'zombie' started moving at a decent pace towards them.

Piers lifted the machete and swung hard, twisting his body and striking the woman in the neck; partially decapitating her before she fell back onto the ground, as her mouth and pale, opaque eyes still animated.

"Brutal," said Dudley with some awe. "It's like we're in one of those horror flicks."

"Seriously?" asked Harry with a small amount of disgust.

"Hey, I get to fuck zombies up, I might as well enjoy it," he shot back.

Shaking his head, Harry grabbed Malcolm's free arm and hefted it over his shoulder, motioning to move down the street.

o0o0o0o

Their first sight of No. 4 Privet Drive didn't give the three a positive outlook. A number of the windows were smashed and blood could be seen on the jagged edges of the glass as the sunlight began to fade.

Their entry through the smashed front door made it worse. Though no sign of any bodies it was clar no one survived from the large amount of blood and small piece of flesh on every surface in both the kitchen and lounge room.

"What are we going to do?" asked Piers to his former Gang's leader as he dropped what Harry was now sure was a corpse near the umbrella stand.

Dudley was very pale and looked like he was going into shock. He may have been seen as dumb but he knew a lost cause when he saw one. Unless someone else was in his house when it was attack, his parents were most likely dead. Seeing Dudley's nonresponse, Harry gave a suggestion.

"Get every bit of food and water we can upstairs, and then smash the stairs, keeping our undead friends downstairs. I'll then get us a message out; I have some friends who can help us."

"How do you intend to do that?" asked Piers. "The powers out and so are probably the phone lines."

"Don't you worry about it," replied Harry.

Dudley, seemingly having snapped out of his shock, made his way upstairs, and not towards the kitchen to gather food. Slightly worried, Harry followed after reordering Piers to start grabbing the essentials and moving them upstairs.

Entering his Aunt and Uncles bedroom, Harry found Dudley fishing something out from under his parent's bed – what appeared to be a shotgun.

"Uhh, Dudley?" he asked.

"After that incident with that giant man, dad went and bought this, and taught me to use it in case and more of your freaks turned up and threatened us. I doubt this is what he meant but I'm sure he'd have no problem with what I'm doing," he replied, carefully loading in some bright red shotgun shells into the underside of the gun.

"Right, well, be careful, and make it quick, the quicker everything's upstairs the safer we'll be," he said to which Dudley nodded.

Harry made his way downstairs to the kitchen, wand in hand before seeing a slightly confused Piers trying to figure out how he'll be carrying all of his looted food upstairs.

"Ugh," said Harry, pinching the bridge of his nose not for the first time that night. "Garbage bags; second draw on the right of the fridge, Piers. Fill them up and use them to carry everything upstairs."

He nodded and did exactly that to which Harry followed before making their way into the entrance hall with their bagged food.

"Aww, sweet, Big D, where did you get that?" asked Piers with awe, directed at the shotgun.

"It's my dad's; a semi, only a five rounder through, better than nothing I suppose. Only got two boxes of shells, so I gotta use it sparingly," he said with a slight frown.

"Defiantly sparingly, and as a last resort, the sound might attract their attention," added Harry to which Dudley nodded in a surprisingly thoughtful manner.

They spent the next few minutes up and down the stairs grabbing anything they thought they would need for an extended stay. Piers had the bright idea plugging up the bath then filling it with water so they wouldn't die of thirst. Dudley, armed with his shotgun, went out the back of the house and raided the shed for some melee weapons; though Harry had doubts on the effectiveness of a hedge shears on a zombie and vetoed the use of the chainsaw (why did Uncle Vernon have one anyway? He didn't have any trees to cut down), the sledgehammer might make a half decent weapon though.

"So, how we going to smash the stairs?" asked Piers. "Using the hammer would be a pain, but I guess we'll have too."

"Well, I think this is a life or death situation, I can probably get away with it," said Harry with a slight smile as he drew his wand. "_Reducto!_"

A small portion of the stairs exploded as Dudley jumped back and Piers yelped.

"What the bloody Hell was that?" exclaimed Piers.

"You want to explain to your friend, Bid D?" asked Harry with a slight amount of mock.

"Not really, how do you think I would anyway?" he replied nervously.

"Well, let me finish this up," said Harry with a roll of his eyes before blasting the stairs into bits with a few more Reducto's.

o0o0o0o

"That's ridiculous," said Piers as they sat in Harry's room. Harry then got started on his letter for help.

_To anyone who can help,_

_Aunt and Uncle presumed dead and seem to have been killed by inferi zombie things. Cousin, his friend and I are holed up in our house on the top floor. We've barricaded the entrances and smashed the stairs. No underage magic warnings so far._

_Harry_

Happy with the letter he rolled it up and tied it to Hedwig's foot.

"Stay safe girl, take it to someone who can help and is closest."

"Weird," muttered Piers as the owl disappeared into the night.

"Has Malcolm turned yet?" asked Harry morbidly.

"Not last time I checked," replied Dudley.

"Might want too again, we need to know, got to understand what we're fighting. I'll dig through my DADA textbooks," he said noticing the mystified look on Dudley and Piers faces. "Defence Against the Dark Arts; they sort've look like inferi, dead corpses animated by a dark wizard. But they don't turn people into more of them."

Dudley left the room, shotgun in hand to check.

"We were right!" he called out. "He's moving again – oh, look, he's getting up, he's defiantly one of them."

"Don't shoot him, Dudley," replied Harry as he walked out the door towards the top of the stairs where Dudley was.

"I know," he replied. "I'm not stupid, don't have much ammo. There are probably better ways to kill a single zombie."

"That's not what I meant actually. I need to find out which spells I can use on them," said Harry, noticing that Dudley still flinches at the mention of magic.

"Oh," he simply replied.

"It's going to be a problem, for obvious reason they don't teach lethal spells to us in school, just non-lethal. I'm not sure they will work, pretty sure inferi need to be destroyed pretty thoroughly to die" he said with a slight frown, curiously watching Dudley's former friends shuffle around, trying to climb up the pulverised stairs.

"I'm still convinced they're zombies," said the voice of Piers, behind them. "And I won't say no to seeing some more magic."

"Right… let's see…" said Harry as he thought of what spells he could use. "I think I'll start with the stunning spell, could try the Reductor Curse, Cutting Curse, Body Bind… Hmm… I _could_ try the Killing Curse…"

"Killing Curse?" asked Dudley nervously.

"Yea, an unforgivable, use on another human being is an instant life sentence in prison. Not sure if inferi count as people."

"Try it anyway," said Piers with the same amount of awe he gave Dudley's shotgun and the whole Zombie Apocalypse.

"I'll think about it," responded Harry. "Oh – I remember now, fire! That's what you're supposed to use on inferi! I might burn down the house though."

"Zombies are way cooler," snuck in Piers.

"Right, whatever," he replied. "Here is goes I guess; _Stupefy!"_

The jet of red light did nothing to shuffling Malcolm.

"What was that supposed to do?" asked Dudley.

"Knock you out, a stunner," replied Harry. "Uhh, let's see. _Diffindo!_"

A bloodless gash appeared across Malcolm's face and down one arm.

"I guess if I cast it really powerfully I might be able to cut off arms of maybe even his head."

"Maybe," mutter Piers.

"_Petrificus Totalus!"_ said Harry to no effect. "I guess it only works on living things."

"What was it supposed to do?"

"It pretty much freezes you in place," he replied. "Another, let's see… _Reducto!_"

The blue jet of light struck Malcolm in the shoulder causing bits of flesh and bone to fly everywhere and knock him over. As he got up again and try to climb up the remains of the stairs the three of them saw that the arm attached to the damaged shoulder now hung loosely.

"I think you found your weapon," said Piers with his usual violence and death induced awe. "Try the killing one now."

Scowling, Harry decided to give it a go.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" he said with a flash of green light.

As the green ghost image on his eyes faded he could see Malcolm still shuffling around.

"Guess not; I won't bother with the other unforgivables. If the Killing Curse doesn't work then I doubt the Torture Curse and the Imperious Curse work."

"Torture Curse? Cool…"

"No, Piers, I can assure you it is not," said Harry pinching the bridge of his nose _again_. "It hurts like Hell and leaves you with shakes and twitches for hours."

Before Piers could ask how he would know, Harry jumped to the sound of multiple cracks.

"That was apparation," said Harry to Dudley and Piers, waving off any questions as to what apparition was. "Get to the window and keep a lookout, don't shoot anyone though."

Harry, followed by Piers who was carrying his Machete again – not that it would be of any use at a range, and Dudley with his shotgun moved surprisingly cautiously towards the window and peered out. None of them could make out anything besides shuffling zombies/inferi.

"How many cracks did you hear?" asked Harry with a whisper.

"Three, maybe four," replied Dudley.

"Yea, about the same," confirmed Piers. "So what were they? Apperaty whats-it?"

"Apparition; it's like wizarding teleportation."

"So there are three, maybe four wizards out there? They your friends?" asked Piers.

"Yes, don't know if their friends though."

The peace and quiet was broken by the sound of spell casting, cracks and flashes of blue and purple light. In the dark they could make out the sight of limbs and organs flying through the air and landing with a thump.

"What number is it, Tonks?" said a male voice in the night.

"No. 4, it's just up here," replied a feminine voice.

"Good, I want to get back to Headquarters quickly."

"Don't we all, Padfoot," said another male voice.

"I'm pretty sure I know some of these people, but they might be imposters. Don't shoot them Dudley unless I say so," to which Dudley nodded.

Slowly the three figures made their way towards the house, wands out, covering 360 degrees.

"Mundungus was supposed to be on watch," said the figure Harry was sure was Sirius, before he called out _'Reducto!'_ and reduced the head of the nearest zombie/inferi to bits.

The two wizards and single witch continued their way towards the house, finally setting foot in the driveway.

"We better not be too late."

"Don't worry, Padfoot –"

Harry chose this moment to cut off who he thought was Lupin.

"Hold it!" he said loudly and clearly. "Don't move!"

"That you Harry?" asked the one who sounded like Sirius.

"Depends," replied Harry. "Who taught me the Patronus Charm and what form does it take?"

"I, Remus Lupin, taught you it, and it takes the form of a Stag, the same as your fathers Animagus form," said the closest figure.

Harry relaxed at the answer given.

"Watch out, there's one in the entrance hall."

"You left it there, Pup?" asked Sirius.

"It can't get upstairs and I was using it to test which curses were effective against them."

As Sirius stood their thoughtfully, Harry, Dudley and Piers made their way back to the top of the demolished stairs to find Lupin hitting Malcolm with some sort of blasting curse, putting him down for good.

"Ah, I see what you did," said Lupin, noticing the stairs. "Your handiwork, Harry?"

"Yea," he replied. "I take it you got my letter?"

"Letter?"

"No we didn't, Pup," said Sirius as he came through the front door. "When did you send it?"

"About 45 minutes ago or so…"

"Never got it. We came to pick you up when we lost contact with a few Order members and Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore?" exclaimed Harry.

"Yea, lost contact with him. Either he's a long way away, like on another continent or he's dead, only way he wouldn't be able to respond, or if he's lost his wand," stated Lupin sadly.

"Damn," said Harry. "Any idea what's going on?"

"Yea, it's a long story. Here is not the place, we need to get moving," said Lupin. "Who are your friends?"

"Oh yea," said Harry. "Uhh – my cousin Dudley and his friend Piers Polkiss."

Dudley and Piers simply gave Sirius and Lupin a nod, before Lupin gave his own introductions.

"Well, I'm Remus Lupin, that –" he said, giving a wave of his hand in Sirius's direction, "is Sirius Black, and outside is Nymphadora Tonks."

"Oi, I heard that!" came a sound from outside before a person with purple hair appeared at the door. "It's just Tonks, nobody calls me Nymphadora unless you're my mother, I'll curse you if you do."

"So, is it Dudley _Dursley?_" asked Remus to which Dudley nodded. "Are your parents up there?"

"No, haven't seen them since this morning," said Dudley sadly.

"We'll, they might be around, holed up somewhere," said Lupin as optimistically as possible.

"No, I'm pretty sure they're gone. There was a lot of blood in here when we arrived," frowned Dudley. "You taking us with you?"

"It wasn't that plan, we expected your parents to resist any attempts to protect them. I guess if they're gone that won't be an issue," to which Dudley and Piers nodded, having seen what an underage wizard was capable of.

"Alright then, if you're coming with us then grab your stuff. You got any food? We only have a few days' worth at headquarters and will need to resupply in the next few days," said Tonks.

"We've got some, but it's not much, maybe a weeks' worth for just us," answered Harry.

"Better than nothing, grab it quickly and anything else you need, we need to fight out way out to the edge of the wards then we'll side along apparate you to HQ," said Tonks.

Nodding the three teens went back to the bedrooms and started dumping any clothes they could find into bags, followed by their food stash. Outside they could hear the occasional spell cast, dealing with any zombies/inferi that were attracted to the noise they had made.

"Just a second, I can put lightening charms on them," which Harry did before applying the same to his school trunk, still packed from school.

"Got everything? Chuck it down, I'll catch, then climb down," said Sirius.

Piers went down first so Dudley could hand his shotgun to him, then Dudley went down, followed by Harry.

"Everyone ready? Wands out… uh – guns and large knives too," added Remus at the sight of Dudley cocking the semi-auto for dramatic effect.

"You just enjoy that, don't you, Bid D?" said Piers as Dudley picked up the shell he had ejected and loaded it back into the shotgun.

"Yea," he said with a smile. "Let's roll."

Stepping into the cool night air the six made their way back up the street to the point where Sirius, Lupin and Tonks and apperated in.

"Mum?"

Everyone turned to Dudley, seeing him with his shotgun raised at a figure in the shadows. To the sound an attention the figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the half-moon where everyone could see her; Petunia Dursley, sister of Lily Potter, bloodied and torn to shreds by her zombie attacker.

"Dudley," said Tonks cautiously. "We need to go, now."

Shaking slightly, Dudley squeeze the trigger and put down what was once his mother, ears ringing and in slight shock at what he had done.

"It's what she would have wanted, she would never have wanted to be like that," he said shakily.

Nodding once, Tonks took his hand and apperated out with a small crack.

o0o0o0o

The six reappeared in a small park across from some grimy houses somewhere in London, quickly having a small piece of parchment thrust in front of them by Lupin.

_The Headquarters of the Order of Phoenix can be found at 12 Grimmauld Place._

"Normally we'd burn that after reading but that's our only copy and the secret keeper is missing, presumed dead," he said.

"Fidelus Charm?" asked Harry

"Yes, we'll discuss more inside," he replied. "Come on, stay sharp."

They followed Lupin, Sirius and Tonks across the street, wands, shotgun and machete out – though Piers felt slightly useless next to the wand users and shotgun wielding Dudley, stopping in front of where No. 12 should have been.

"Think about the note," said Tonks. As they did so, a building suddenly appeared where they were sure was not one a few seconds ago, let alone a space for one.

Sirius went up and opened the door as Lupin pushed them inside and Tonks covered the six o'clock position. Entering the gloomiest house he had ever been in, Harry looked around. The house made him think it belonged to the darkest of dark wizards.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, which we repurposed as the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, or what's left of it anyway," replied Sirius sadly.

"Left of it?" asked Piers.

"Yes, left of it," answered Tonks. "Two thirds of our numbers are missing, presumed dead, including our leader and second-in-command."

"What was this Order supposed to do?" asked Harry.

"Fight Voldemort," replied Lupin. "Formed during the first war by Dumbledore, we were reactivated last month when you saw him return as Fudge wasn't going to do anything while Lucius was filling his bowler hat with gold."

"Doesn't matter now, these strange inferi have wiped everyone out," said Sirius.

"It's now a game of survival," continued Tonks.

"What are we going to do?" asked Dudley.

"That, is one of the thing we will discuss, everyone whose left of the order that we know of and a few more are here downstairs," said Lupin, whop ushered everyone except Sirius and Harry downstairs.

"Harry," said Sirius, to which Harry instantly knew what was about to be said; someone, a good friend, was dead. "Ron and Molly didn't make it, Arthur is missing."

Harry swallowed hard and nodded suddenly feeling very cold, he would grieve later, out of eyeshot once the task at hand was over. He had done it only a month prior, he could do it now and now he could follow Sirius down into the dungeon bellow the building.

o0o0o0o

Harry was engulfed by a hug from a red eyed crying Hermione which he returned. Over her shoulder he nodded to Ginny, Fred and George who were looking very sullen.

After introductions, Harry took a place next to Sirius against the wall as Lupin placed a very old and faded book entitled 'Secretis Necromantiae' on the pedestal positioned next to the manacled inferi.

"Well, I guess we can begin," said Lupin. "I've been trying to figure out the origin of these inferi –"

"Zombies," muttered Piers.

"Yes; zombies, inferi – whatever they are," he continued. "I've managed to get a hold of this book on necromancy from the black library, trying to confirm that these things are magical in origin. From my test I can positively identify that these things are magical and their base construct is that of inferi."

"So not zombies then?" said Piers, causing Lupin to pinch the bridge of his nose, the first of many.

"If you let me finish," he continued. "Their base magic is that of inferi, but there clearly is something else. Normal inferi are simply corpses being used as puppets by a necromancer, these however 'infect' living people, like a disease, like zombies found in a classic muggle zombie film."

"Who created them?" asked Hermione's father; Dan Granger.

"No idea," state Lupin simply. "If I had one of the original inferi-zombies I might be able to get a wand signature to match it too but that would require the wand signature of the caster on record."

"We'd be better off working out who has the motive and ability to do this rather than trying to trace a single wand," suggested Tonks.

"Are you suggesting someone?" asked Lupin.

"Voldemort?"

"Has the ability, but I can't see him doing this. Killing purebloods and wiping out the Ministry kills off his support base. If it was just muggles I'd agree it's most likely Voldemort, but it's not," stated Sirius.

"How are normal inferi made?" asked Hermione, speaking up for the first time that night.

Lupin sighed and flipped through the book on Necromancy.

"It's simply a spell cast on a fresh or preserved corpse which would be under the control of the maker, similar to how someone controls another under the Imperius Curse. This book suggests soaking the corpse in a special potion to preserve the bodies before enchanting and to improve resilience afterwards, though it's not necessary"

"Radically different to what we have here, any idea how it was done?" asked Tonks

"A guess, thought I lack the ability to investigate it properly," he responded before sighing. "I'd say they modified the original spell; making it so it mutates the corpse, making its bodily fluid highly poisonous, followed by cursing the body with the same spells. So you get bitten, it poisons you, you die, then the curse reanimates you and the cycle begins anew."

A few sarcastic mutterings from the Twins, Ginny, Sirius, and Piers of 'wonderful' broke the silence.

"We ruled out Voldemort because he wouldn't want to wipe out everyone," said Ginny. "What if it wasn't his intention for them to go after everyone? What if he lost control of them?"

No one said a word.


End file.
